|
|
THE NAMES OF THE EASTERN CATHOLICS, THE SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTLES ADDAI AND MÂRÎ
1. Addai was buried in Edessa.
2. Mârî (was buried) in the convent of Kônî.
3. Abrîs, called in Greek A[m]brosius; the place of his grave is unknown; he was of the laying on of hands of Antioch.
4. Abraham was of the laying on of hands of Antioch; he was descended from the family of Jacob the son of Joseph; his grave is in Ctesiphon.
5. James, of the laying on of hands of Antioch, was also of the family of Joseph the husband of Mary; his grave is in Ctesiphon.
6. Ahâ-d´abû[hî] was of the laying on of hands of Antioch; his grave is in Ctesiphon.
7. Shahlûphâ was of the laying on of hands of Ctesiphon, and he was buried there.
8. Pâpâ; his grave is at Ctesiphon.
9. Simon bar Sabbâ`ê was martyred at Shôshân.
10. Shah-dôst was buried in Ctesiphon.
11. Bar-Be`esh-shemîn was martyred and buried in Elam (Khûzistân).
12. Tûmarsâ was buried in Ctesiphon.
13. Kâyômâ was buried in Ctesiphon; he abdicated the patriarchate, and another was put in his place, and was before him until he died.
14. Isaac was buried in Ctesiphon.
15. Ahâ was buried in Ctesiphon.
16. Yab-alâhâ was of the school of Mâr `Abdâ; he was buried in Ctesiphon.
17. Ma`nâ dwelt in Persia and was buried there.
18. Dâd-îshô` was buried in Hêrtâ. In his days the strife between Nestorius and Cyril (of Alexandria) took place.
19. Bâbôi was martyred and buried in Hêrtâ.
20. Akak (Acacius) was of the family of Bâbôi the Catholicus; he was buried in al-Madâïn4.
21. Bâbai took a wife, and was buried at Ctesiphon,
22. Shîlâ took a wife, and was buried in his convent beside Awânâ.
23. Paul was buried in Ctesiphon.
24. Mâr(î)-abâ was buried in Hêrtâ, and was a martyr without bloodshed.
25. Ezekiel was buried in Hêrtâ.
26. Îshô`-yab of Arzôn was buried in Hêrtâ.
27. Sabr-îshô` was buried in Hêrtâ.
28. Gregory was buried in . . . . . .
29. Îshô`-yab of Gedâlâ was buried in . . . . . .
30. Mâr[î]-emmêh was buried in Ketîmiyâ (?).
31. Îshô`-yab of Adiabene was buried in Bêth-`Âbê.
32. George was buried in . . . . . .
33. John was buried in . . . . . .
34. Henân-îshô` was buried in . . . . . .
35. Selîbâ-zekhâ was buried in Ctesiphon.
36. Pethiôn was buried in Ctesiphon.
37. Mâr[î]-abâ was buried in al-Madâïn.
38. Jacob was buried in . . . . . .
39. Henân-îshô` was buried in . . . . . .
40. Timothy was buried in his own convent.
41. Îshô` (Joshua) the son of Nôn (Nun) was buried in the convent of Timothy.
42. George was buried in the same convent.
43. Sabr-îshô` was buried in the same convent.
44. Abraham was buried in the same convent.
45. Athanasius was buried in the same convent.
46. Sergius was buried in the same convent.
47. Anôsh (Enos) was buried in the same convent.
48. John the son of Narsai was buried in the Greek Palace (at Baghdâd).
49. Joannes was buried in the Greek Palace.
50. John was buried in the Greek Palace.
51. Abraham was buried in the convent of `Abdôn.
52. Emmanuel was buried in the Greek Palace.
53. Israel was buried in the Greek Palace.
54. `Abd-îshô` was buried in the Greek Palace.
55. Mârî was buried in the Greek Palace.
56. Joannes was buried in the Greek Palace.
57. John was buried in the Greek Palace.
58. Îshô`-yab was buried in the Grek Palace.
59. Elijah (Elîyâ) was buried in the Greek Palace.
60. John was buried in the Greek Palace.
61. Sabr-îshô` was buried in the Greek Palace.
62. `Abd-îshô` was buried in the Greek Palace.
63. Makkîkhâ was buried in the Greek Palace.
64. Elijah (Elîyâ) was buried in the Greek Palace.
65. Bar-saumâ was buried in the Greek Palace.
66. `Abd-îshô` was buried . . . . . .
67. Îshô`-yab was buried in the church of Mâr Sabr-îshô`.
68. Elijah (Elîyâ) was buried in the church of Mâr Sabr-îshô`.
69. Yab-alâhâ was buried in the church of Mârt[î] Maryam (my lady Mary).
70. Sabr-îshô` was buried in the church of Mârt[î] Maryam.
71. Sabr-îshô` was buried . . . . . .
72. [Mâr Makkîkhâ was buried . . . . . .
73. Mâr Denhâ was buried . . . . . .
74. Mâr Yab-alâhâ the Turk was buried . . . . . .
75. Mâr Timothy was buried . . . . . .
76. Mâr Denhâ was buried . . . . . .
77. Mâr Simon was buried . . . . . .
78. Mâr Elijah (Elîyâ) was buried . . . . . .
79. Mâr Simon of our days, may he live for ever!
The names of the Catholics who were deposed and dismissed (from office): Mâr(î)-bôkht, Narsai, Elisha, Joseph and Sôrên.
THE NAMES OF THE KINGS WHO HAVE REIGNED IN THE WORLD FROM THE FLOOD UNTIL NOW.
THE MEDIAN KINGS WHO REIGNED IN BABYLON.
Darius the son of Vashtasp (Hystaspes) reigned 24 years.
Ahshîresh (Xerxes) his son, 20 years.
Artahshisht the long-hand (Artaxerxes Longimanus), 41 years.
Daryâwash (Darius) the son of the concubine, 20 years.
Artahshisht (Artaxerxes) the ruler, 30 years.
Arses the son of Ochus, 4 years.
Daryâwash (Darius) the son of Ârsham (Arsanes), 6 years.
THE YEARS OF THE EGYPTIAN KINGS
Alexander the son of Philip, 12 years. Ptolemy the son of Lagôs, 40 years. Ptolemy Philadelphus, 38 years. In his third year the fifth millennium ended. This (king) asked the captive Jews who were in Egypt, and seventy old men translated the Scriptures for him, from Hebrew into Greek, in the island of Pharos. In return for this he set them free, and gave back to them also the vessels of their temple. Their names are these. Josephus, Hezekiah, Zechariah, John, Ezekiel, Elisha; these were of the tribe of Reuben. Judah, Simon, Samuel, Addai, Mattathias, Shalmî; these were of the tribe of Simeon. Nehemiah, Joseph, Theodosius, Bâsâ, Adonijah, Dâkî; these were of the tribe of Levi. Jothan, Abdî, Elisha, Ananias, Zechariah, Hilkiah; these were of the tribe of Judah. Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, Sambât (Sabbateus), Simon, Levi; these were of the tribe of Issachar. Judah, Joseph, Simon, Zechariah, Samuel, Shamlî; these were of the tribe of Zebulon. Sambât (Sabbateus), Zedekiah, Jacob, Isaac, Jesse, Matthias; these were of the tribe of Gad. Theodosius, Jason, Joshua, John, Theodotus, Jothan; these were of the tribe of Asher. Abraham, Theophilus, Arsam, Jason, Jeremiah, Daniel; these were of the tribe of Dan. Jeremiah, Eliezer, Zechariah, Benaiah, Elisha, Dathî; these were of the tribe of Naphtali. Samuel, Josephus, Judah, Jonathan, Dositheus, Caleb; these were of the tribe of Joseph. Isalus, John, Theodosius, Arsam, Abijah, Ezekiel; these were of the tribe of Benjamin.
After Ptolemy Philadelphus arose Ptolemy Euergetes; (he reigned) 26 years.
Ptolemy Philopator, 17 years.
Ptolemy Epiphanes, 24 years.
Ptolemy Philometor, 35 years. The time of the Maccabees extended to this (reign), and in it the old Covenant came to an end.
Ptolemy Soter, 17 years.
Ptolemy Alexander, 18 years.
THE YEARS OF THE ROMAN EMPERORS.
Gaius Julius, 4 years.
Augustus, 57 years. In the forty-third year of his reign our Lord Christ was born.
Tiberius, 23 years. In the fifteenth year of his reign our Lord was baptised; and in the seventeenth year He suffered, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven.
Gaius (Caligula), 4 years.
Claudius, 14 years.
Nero, 14 years.
Vespasian, 10 years. Immediately after he came to the throne, he sent his son Titus against Jerusalem, and he besieged it for two years, until he uprooted it and destroyed it.
Titus, 2 years.
Domitian, 15 years.
Trajan, 20 years. John, the son of Zebedee, lived until the seventh year of his reign.
Hadrian, 20 years.
Antoninus, 20 years.
Verus, 20 years.
The house of Antoninus.
Alexander the son of Mammaea, 13 years.
Maximinius and Gordianus, 9 years.
Philip and Gallus, 10 years.
Valerianus and Gallius (Gallienus), 15 years.
Claudius and Tacitus, 16 years.
Diocletian and those that were with him, 20 years.
Constantine, 33 years.
THE KINGS OF THE PERSIANS FROM SHÂBÔR (SAPOR) THE SON OF HORMIZD1.
In the fourth year of Constantine Caesar the Victorious, Shâbôr reigned in Persia 70 years.
Ardashîr his brother, 20 years.
Vahrân (Bahrâm) and Shâbôr, the sons of Ardashîr, 20 years.
Yazdagerd, the son of Shâbôr, 20 years.
Vahrân (Bahrâm), the son of Yazdagerd, 20 years.
Pêrôz, the son of Yazdagerd, 27 years.
Balâsh, the son of Pêrôz, 4 years.
Kawâd, the son of Pêrôz, 41 years.
Chosrau, the son of Kawâd, 47 years.
Hormizd, the son of Chosrau, 12 years.
From Shâbôr to this fifteenth year of Chosrau the son of Hormizd, in which he destroyed Dârâ, is three hundred and six years. The sum of all the years from Adam to this fifteenth year of Chosrau the conqueror, which is the nine hundred and sixteenth year of the Greeks, is 5861 years. From Adam to the Crucifixion is 5280 years. The whole of the Jewish economy therefore, from the time they went out of Egypt until Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, was 1601 years. From Abraham to this year is 2031 years.
OF THE YEARS THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY FROM THE WORLD.
From Adam to the Flood was 2262 years. From the Flood to Abraham was 1015 years. From Abraham to the Exodus of the people from Egypt was 430 years. From the Exodus of the people by the hand of Moses to Solomon and the building of the Temple was 400 years. From Solomon to the first Captivity, which Nebuchadnezzar led away captive, was 495 years. From the first Captivity to the prophesying of Daniel was 180 years. From the prophesying of Daniel to the Birth of our Lord was 483 years. All these years make 5345 years. From Alexander to our Lord was 303 years. From our Lord to Constantine was 341 years. In the year 438 of Alexander the Macedonian, the kingdom of the Persians had its beginning. Know, O my brother readers, that from the beginning of the creation of Adam to Alexander was 5180 years.
OF THE END OF TIMES AND THE CHANGE OF KINGDOMS; FROM THE BOOK OF METHODIUS, BISHOP OF ROME
IN this seventh and last millennium will the kingdom of the Persians be destroyed. In it will the children of Ishmael go forth from the wilderness of Yathrib (al-Medînah), and they will all come and be gathered together in Gibeah of Ramah, and there shall the fat ones of the kingdom of the Greeks, who destroyed the kingdoms of the Hebrews and the Persians, be destroyed by Ishmael, the wild ass of the desert; for in wrath shall he be sent against the whole earth, against man and beast and trees, and it shall be a merciless chastisement. It is not because God loves them that He has allowed them to enter into the kingdoms of the Christians, but by reason of the iniquity and sin which is wrought by the Christians, the like of which has never been wrought in any one of the former generations. They are mad with drunkenness and anger and shameless lasciviousness; they have intercourse with one another wickedly, a man and his son committing fornication with one woman, the brother with his brother's wife, male with male, and female with female, contrary to the law of nature and of Scripture, as the blessed Paul has said, 'Male with male did work shame, and likewise also the women did work lewdness, and, contrary to nature, had intercourse with one another.' Therefore they have brought upon themselves the recompense of punishment which is meet for their error, women as well as men, and hence God will deliver them over to the impurity of the barbarians, that their wives may be polluted by the sons of pollution, and men may be subjected to the yoke of tribute; then shall men sell everything that they have and give it to them, but shall not be able to pay the debt of the tribute, until they give also their children to them into slavery. And the tyrant shall exalt himself until he demands tribute and poll-tax from the dead that lie in the dust, first oppressing the orphans and defrauding the widows. They will have no pity upon the poor, nor will they spare the miserable; they will not relieve the afflicted; they will smite the grey hairs of the aged, despise the wise, and honour fools; they will mock at those who frame laws, and the little shall be esteemed as the great, and the despised as the honourable; their words shall cut like swords, and there is none who shall be able to change the persuasive force of their words. The path of their chastisement shall be from sea to sea, and from east to west, and from north to south, and to the wilderness of Yathrib. In their latter days there shall be great tribulation, old men and old women hungering and thirsting, and tortured in bonds until they account the dead happy. They will rip up the pregnant woman, and tear infants away from their mothers' bosoms and sell them like beasts, and those that are of no use to them will they dash against the stones. They will slay the priests and deacons in the sanctuary, and they will lie with their wives in the houses of God. They will make clothes for themselves and their wives out of the holy vestments, and they will spread them upon their horses, and work impurity upon them in their beds. They will bring their cattle into the churches and altars, and they will tie up their dogs by the shrines of the saints. In those days the spirit of the righteous and of them that are well versed in signs will be grieved. The feeble will deny the true faith, the holy Cross, and the life-giving mysteries; and without compulsion many will deny Christ, and become rebels and slanderers and boasters, denying the faith. With this chastisement shall the Christians be tried. For at that time the righteous, the humble, the peaceful and the gentle will not be sought after, but liars and slanderers and accusers and disturbers and the obscene and those who are destitute of mercy, and those who scoff at their parents and blaspheme the life-giving mysteries. And the true believers shall come into troubles and persecutions until they despair of their lives. Honour shall be taken away from the priests, and the pastors shall become as the people. When the measure of their (i.e. the Ishmaelites') victory is full, tribulation will increase, and chastisement will be doubled upon man and beast. And there shall be a great famine, and the dead bodies of men shall lie in the streets and squares without any one to bury them, and (just) reckoning shall vanish and disappear from the earth, And men shall sell their brass and their iron and their clothes, and shall give their sons and their daughters willingly to the heathen. A man shall lie down in the evening and rise in the morning, and shall find at his do or two or three exactors and officers to carry off by force; and two or three women shall throw themselves upon one man and say, 'We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel, only let us take refuge beneath thy skirts.' When men are oppressed and beaten, and hunger and thirst, and are tormented by that bitter chastisement; while the tyrants shall live luxuriously and enjoy themselves, and eat and drink, and boast in the victory they have won, having destroyed nations and peoples, and shall adorn themselves like brides, saying, 'The Christians have neither a God nor a deliverer;' then all of a sudden there shall be raised up against them pains like those of a woman in childbirth; and the king of the Greeks shall go forth against them in great wrath, and he shall rouse himself like a man who has shaken off his wine. He shall go forth against them from the sea of the Cushites, and shall cast the sword and destruction into the wilderness of Yathrib and into the dwelling-place of their fathers. They shall carry off captive their wives and sons and daughters into the service of slavery, and fear of all those round about them shall fall upon them, and they shall all be delivered into the hand of the king of the Greeks, and shall be given over to the sword and to captivity and to slaughter, and their latter subjection shall be one hundred times more severe than their (former) yoke. They shall be in sore tribulation from hunger and thirst and anxiety; they shall be slaves unto those who served them, and bitter shall their slavery be. Then shall the earth which has become desolate of its inhabitants find peace, and the remnant that is left shall return every man to his own land and to the inheritance of his fathers; and men shall increase like locusts upon the earth which was laid waste. Egypt shall be ravaged, Arabia shall be burnt with fire, the land of Hebron shall be laid waste, and the tongue of the sea shall be at peace. All the wrath and anger of the king of the Greeks shall have full course upon those who have denied Christ. And there shall be great peace on earth, the like of which has not been from the creation of the world until its end; for it is the last peace. And there shall be great joy on earth, and men shall dwell in peace and quiet; convents and churches shall be restored, cities shall be built, the priests shall be freed from taxes, and men shall rest from labour and anxiety of heart. They shall eat and drink; there shall be neither pain nor care; and they shall marry wives and beget children during that true peace. Then shall the gates of the north be opened, and the nations shall go forth that were imprisoned there by Alexander the king.
OF GOG AND MAGOG, WHO ARE IMPRISONED IN THE NORTH.
WHEN Alexander was king and had subdued countries and cities, and had arrived in the East, he saw on the confines of the East those men who are of the children of Japhet. They were more wicked and unclean than all (other) dwellers in the world; filthy peoples of hideous appearance, who ate mice and the creeping things of the earth and snakes and scorpions. They never buried the bodies of their dead, and they ate as dainties the children which women aborted and the after-birth. People ignorant of God, and unacquainted with the power of reason, but who lived in this world without understanding like ravening beasts. When Alexander saw their wickedness, he called God to his aid, and he gathered together and brought them and their wives and children, and made them go in, and shut them up within the confines of the North. This is the gate of the world on the north, and there is no other entrance or exit from the confines of the world from the east to the north. And Alexander prayed to God with tears, and God heard his prayer and commanded those two lofty mountains which are called 'the children of the north,' and they drew nigh to one another until there remained between them about twelve cubits. Then he built in front of them a strong building, and be made for it a door of brass, and anointed it within and without with oil of Thesnaktîs, so that if they should bring iron (implements) near it to force it open, they would be unable to move it; and if they wished to melt it with fire, it would quench it; and it feared neither the operations of devils nor of sorcerers, and was not to be overcome (by them). Now there were twenty-two kingdoms imprisoned within the northern gate, and tbeir names are these: Gôg, Mâgôg, Nâwâl, Eshkenâz, Denâphâr, Paktâyê, Welôtâyê, Humnâyê, Parzâyê, Daklâyê, Thaubelâyê, Darmetâyê, Kawkebâyê, Dog-men (Cynocephali), Emderâthâ, Garmîdô`, Cannibals, Therkâyê, Âlânâyê, Pîsîlôn, Denkâyê, Saltrâyê. At the end of the world and at the final consummation, when men are eating and drinking and marrying wives, and women are given to husbands; when they are planting vineyards and building buildings, and there is neither wicked man nor adversary, on account of the assured tranquillity and certain peace; suddenly the gates of the north shall be opened and the hosts of the nations that are imprisoned there shall go forth. The whole earth shall tremble before them, and men shall flee and take refuge in the mountains and in caves and in burial places and in clefts of the earth; and they shall die of hunger; and there will be none to bury them, by reason of the multitude of afflictions which they will make men suffer. They will eat the flesh of men and drink the blood of animals; they will devour the creeping things of the earth, and hunt for serpents and scorpions and reptiles that shoot out venom, and eat them. They will eat dead dogs and cats, and the abortions of women with the after-birth; they will give mothers the bodies of their children to cook, and they will eat them before them without shame. They will destroy the earth, and there will be none able to stand before them. After one week of that sore affliction, they will all be destroyed in the plain of Joppa, for thither will all those (people) be gathered together, with their wives and their sons and their daughters; and by the command of God one of the hosts of the angels will descend and will destroy them in one moment.
OF THE COMING OF THE ANTICHRIST, THE SON OF PERDITION.
IN a week and half a week after the destruction of these wretches shall the son of destruction appear. He shall be conceived in Chorazin, born in Bethsaida, and reared in Capernaum. Chorazin shall exult because he was conceived in her, Bethsaida because he was born in her, and Capernaum because he was brought up in her; for this reason our Lord proclaimed Woe to these three (cities) in the Gospel. As soon as the son of perdition is revealed, the king of the Greeks will go up and stand upon Golgotha, where our Lord was crucified; and he will set the royal crown upon the top of the holy Cross, upon which our Lord was crucified; and he will stretch out his two hands to heaven; and will deliver over the kingdom to God the Father. The holy Cross will be taken up to heaven, and the royal crown with it; and the king will die immediately. The king who shall deliver over the kingdom to God will be descended from the seed of Kûshath the daughter of Pîl, the king of the Ethiopians; for Armelaus (Romulus) the king of the Greeks took Kûshath to wife, and the seed of the Ethiopians was mingled with that of the Greeks. From this seed shall a king arise who shall deliver the kingdom over to God, as the blessed David has said, 'Cush will deliver the power to God.' When the Cross is raised up to heaven, straightway shall every head and every ruler and all powers be brought to nought, and God will withdraw His providential care from the earth. The heavens will be prevented from letting fall rain, and the earth from producing germs and plants; and the earth shall remain like iron through drought, and the heavens like brass. Then will the son of perdition appear, of the seed and of the tribe of Dan; and he will shew deluding phantasms, and lead astray the world, for the simple will see the lepers cleansed, the blind with their eyes opened, the paralytic walking, the devils cast out, the sun when he looks upon it becoming black, the moon when he commands it becoming changed, the trees putting forth fruit from their branches, and the earth making roots to grow. He will shew deluding phantasms (of this kind), but he will not be able to raise the dead. He will go into Jerusalem and will sit upon a throne in the temple saying, 'I am the Christ;' and he will be borne aloft by legions of devils like a king and a lawgiver, naming himself God, and saying, 'I am the fulfilment of the types and the parables.' He will put an end to prayers and offerings, as if at his appearance prayers are to be abolished and men will not need sacrifices and offerings along with him. He becomes a man incarnate by a married woman of the tribe of Dan. When this son of destruction becomes a man, he will be made a dwelling-place for devils, and all Satanic workings will be perfected in him. There will be gathered together with him all the devils and all the hosts of the Indians; and before all the Indians and before all men will the mad Jewish nation believe in him, saying, 'This is the Christ, the expectation of the world.' The time of the error of the Antichrist will last two years and a half, but others say three years and six months. And when every one is standing in despair, then will Elijah (Elias) come from Paradise, and convict the deceiver, and turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers; and he will encourage and strengthen the hearts of the believers.